Ashbourne talent Aaron Toohey has shared his brand new single 'Jump' under his usual 2E moniker, with his self-directed accompanying music video premiering on Hot Press.

The rapper/producer has released two studio albums in his six year career as a musician; 2018's The Lab and 2020's follow-up, Mad Scientist. Founder of the independent record label Lab Rat Records, the hard-working creative wrote, produced and mixed 'Jump' completely solo.

Never one to sit back and hand over the reins, Aaron also directed and edited the official music video. The energetic, bouncy track and is the perfect showcase of 2E’s abilities as both a rapper and a producer.

The 24-year-old taught myself how to make beats early on in his career, giving himself full control and freedom to experiment. A fierce collaborator, Toohey works with a range of hip-hop talents in his area.

"Ever since my first album, The Lab, I’ve been sort of obsessed with the idea of the creative space, and how important that space is," 2E tells Hot Press about his studio life.

"‘The Lab’ is owned by my best friend and neighbour Chris Lacy. He lives right beside me, so I’m never too far from that space. It’s my favourite place in the world, which is why I named the entire label after it. Especially in the times we live in, it’s never been more important to find out where your creative space is, and utilise it. Doing that has really helped me with my lockdown woes."

The music video for 'Jump' was shot entirely in that studio for Aaron's directorial debut, taking the room back to his roots.

"The video was shot with zero budget and a four-man crew. We shot it in a very unique way, using a 360 degrees camera," 2E says of the visuals, which were inspired by the film Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas.

"Ciaran Shields, director of photography, is visible throughout the majority of the video. I like to think that this aspect of the video is pretty meta and breaking the fourth wall. Instead of the subject of the video being me as the ‘artist’, it shows everyone behind the scenes. We had a projector in the studio so I decided to load up whatever footage we had shot and project it on the wall behind us. Looking back at us was our own warped faces in the same room, but from what looked like another dimension. It was a little surreal. Like a weird acid trip. That was the sort of the atmosphere I wanted to capture with the video."

Aaron wanted to emphasise his ambition with the self-made track and video, shining a light on his determination to learn each skill on his own and expand his creative ventures.

"I wanted to be as independent as possible with my content. 'Jump' really is my first track that was entirely produced, written, recorded and mixed by me. It’s hard for that sentence not to sound cocky, but I don’t care because I worked really hard to get to the level that I’m at."

"Usually my production is more sample based boom-bap, or lo-fi," 2E adds. "I wanted the 808s to rumble, this is the song that I envision going off the rails live, and I am living for the opportunity to perform it. I like the weird, bitter irony of making a party track while everyone is essentially stuck at home."

Check out the psychedelic video for 'Jump' below: